Monthly Archives: January 2015

Artemisia Update

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I’ve made some progress on the Artemisia butterfly.  I took this picture on Jan. 15.

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And this picture shows my progress to date.  I would guess that I am about 70% done with this one.

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The finished piece will be about 6 inches wide by about 4 inches tall.

There are a total of 14 charts in this series, but I only plan to stitch 8 of them.  Once I finish all 8, I want to frame them individually to hang on a wall.

Hopefully, I can finish this one soon so I can start another project.  My next start will be Loose Feathers by Blackbird Designs and I am super excited about it!

Little Stitches

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It is always great to think that your children are following in your footsteps.  For years, I have tried to get my daughter interested in needlearts.   I have tried to teach her cross stitch and there was one disasterous event that involved crochet.  But alas, she has never taken to any of it.  Her creativity lies with pen and paper.  She is an excellent artist.

I thought all was lost – I would never pass my love of cross stitch on to either of my children.  Until this past weekend.  My son (who is 6 years old and a boy’s boy – very rough and tumble) showed interest in cross stitching.  He kept asking for me to teach him, so we went to the craft store and I let him pick out his own thread colors and hoop so he could do his own project.

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He wanted to stitch a Christmas Tree, so I lightly drew one onto Aida cloth and he used that as a guide.  It took him some time to get the hang of it, but he ended up doing very well.  It wasn’t actually “cross stitch” – it was more of a running stitch, but he did a good job and I was so proud!

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I know he probably won’t love it as much as I do, but I can hope!

 

 

 

 

Quilt Finish! (only 6 months late)

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Yay!!  I finished my daughter’s quilt!  And it’s ONLY 6 months late.  Better late than never.  (I have another one for her I began about 4 years ago that is still not finished.)

I was supposed to have this quilt ready for her when she went to school in August.   Obviously, that didn’t happen.  But I’m sure she will be happy that she will get it now – just in time for the cold weather.  It is her school colors – Navy and Gold.   I’ve been debating on it’s name – School Colors or Blue&Gold.   Pretty inventive, huh?  I think I am going to go with Blue&Gold.

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FRONT
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BACK

I didn’t use a pattern for this.  She had seen a picture of a quilt in a magazine and like it, so I had to “wing it.”  I hope it is the right size to fit her bed.  I think it may actually be a little big.  But I would rather it be too big than too small.

It just has straight “stitch in the ditch” quilting.  I tried to keep it simple so I could actually finish it in this century.

I am really happy with how it turned out.  I just hope she likes it!

Now, I have to wash it and then it is ready to be mailed!

 

 

My First TUSAL

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Being in the YOTA spirit, I joined Daffycat’s TUSAL 2015 challenge.  TUSAL stands for Totally Useless Stitch A Long.  TUSAL is a blog game where members post a photo of their ORT jars on the New Moon of every month.

What is an ORT you say?  In the stitching world, ORT stands for Old Ratty Threads.  These are the little pieces of thread that a stitcher cuts away at the end of the thread piece.  The word “ort” does appear in the dictionary: a bit of something left over; usually concerning food.  Well, the only ORTs in my house are of the thread variety – never food.

Since I already save my ORTs in a little bag by my stitchin’ spot on the couch, I thought this would be fun to show them off to everyone out there on The Interwebs.

Here are the rules from Daffycat’s post:

1.  Comment on Daffycat’s TUSAL 2015 post.

2.  Get a glass jar or other clear container and save your thread clippings. You can include fabric trimmings, thread bands, empty spools or any other stitching cast-offs they gather. You may continue filling this jar throughout the year OR you may empty the jar and start over each month ~ no firm rules here!

3.  On (or about) each New Moon take a picture of the ORTs in your jar and post it to your blog. This is a blog game so YES, you MUST have a blog to be included.

4.  Yes, you can use your current ORT jar or jars. This is no contest…the stitcher with the most ORTs doesn’t win!

5.  Post a picture each New Moon, even if there has been no “progress” to show.  We are aiming for “once a month” here…no whippings for being late, early, or absent!

6.  When you have posted the picture of your ORTs visit Daffycat’s blog and comment on her ORT report for that month’s TUSAL.

Here is Daffycat’s blog if you would like to peruse her page on the TUSAL 2015 challenge:

http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/
The challenge follows the Lunar Cycle. The first New Moon date for 2015 was yersterday, January 20th!  So, without further ado…

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The New Moon dates for 2015 are:
January 20
February 18
March 20
April 18
May 18
June 16
July 16
August 14
September 13
October 13
November 11
December 11

I will post a picture of my ORT jar on or around each of these dates to show my ORT progress.

See you on the next New Moon!

 

 

 

 

 

Blue & Gold binding

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Since my last post on my daughter’s college quilt, I have washed and ironed my extra fabric to use for binding.  After cutting the strips and sewing them together, I iron them in half wrong sides together.  Then it is ready to be sewed onto the quilt!  Yay!!!

Here it is rolled up, ready to go.

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Now it’s time to sew!  Using my walking foot, I sew the binding onto the edge of the quilt.

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The corners can be a little tricky.

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Then it is time for hand sewing.  Boo!!!  I know some people can machine-sew their binding onto the back of their quilt, but I have never been successful with that.  So, it is hand sewing for me!

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It should take a few days to complete the hand sewing.  I have to take occasional breaks so I don’t hurt my wrist or hand.   But it is nice to know that I am so close to being done!  Yippee!!